The British Royal Navy has launched an urgent investigation into reports that employees used glue to repair broken bolts in the reactor chamber of the Trident Nuclear powered submarine. According to the Sun, improper repairs on HMS Vanguard’s cooling pipes were detected after one of the bolts came out during an inspection.
The bolt heads originally came off due to over-tightening. Instead of rebuilding the damaged shafts, the personnel at defense contractor Babcock used adhesive to make a hasty fix.
After the problem was detected, the engineers labeled it a procedural glitch, but no one addressed the failed repair.
“It’s a disgrace. You can’t cut corners with nuclear. Standards are standards. Nuclear standards are never compromised,” a navy source said.
“The glued bolts held insulation in place on the coolant pipes in the nuclear reactor and were found just as workers were set to fire it up to full power for the first time,” reported the newspaper.
The investigators will sift through repair documents to determine when the shoddy repair occurred and who should be held ultimately accountable.
According to a Ministry of Defence official, a “defect” was found on HMS Vanguard when in dry dock and it was “promptly reported and fixed”.
The spokeswoman said the defense secretary, Ben Wallace, held meetings with the chief executive of Babcock, David Lockwood, “to seek assurances about future work”.
Babcock’s spokesperson said, “Any quality-related issue is a huge disappointment, but our own robust inspection processes discovered the issue. There was no safety or operational impact from the work.”
